Hand Lettering 101

Lesson 10 of 18

Slab Serif with Drop Shade

Hand Lettering 101

Lesson 10 of 18

Slab Serif with Drop Shade

Lesson Info

Slab Serif with Drop Shade

Welcome back. I hope you had fun with that last one. Um, next we're going to go back to a saref, and this time we're going to do specifically a slab saref. Um, so we're going to do a slab saref and we're going to add a drop shade to it, eh? So I'll go over a couple different options that you have for drop shade on and also a quick refresher on what, exactly? A slab serifis versus another kind of surf, so okay, so we got a slab serif with the drop shape. Okay, so slab serif um it's going to be a heavier chunkier saref on dh it's not going to taper the same way other other serves tend to do so if you remember the the day we were doing at the beginning, you know, the easiest thing to do might actually be toe look at the, um, look at the sample alphabets that I provided at the beginning and you can really see the geometric slab is obviously the slab. Sarah first is something like that. Um dedo, which has got much thinner, more delicate. Sarah ifs. So you know, if a regular serif tapers out...

like this, a slab serif would be flat um and your serves khun b is longer is short as you want but generally try and keep in mind the rule that you don't want the weight of your serif to be any heavier than the thinnest line that you have in your letter so since we're doing your sarah ah you may have some fix and thins you may choose to do something that's a little bit more monoline or low contrast which is fine um but if you do choose something with more thinks and thins be sure that you're sarah aren't heavier uh then you're thinnest thins um okay so now let's let's start to have a little bit more fun and we can talk about different ways to dio a drop shade uh so okay so we're gonna start off with our letter form the different options for a drop shade you can have your job shade to be connected to the letter it can have a lot of weight to it or it can be really thin and just be as simple as something like this or okay uh so you're drop shade can almost be like the entire letter form itself has been dropped ah in this case down into the left um you can drop it wherever you like so in this case it's just the simple simple essentially it's like the outline was dropped down into the left and then we're only focusing on where the light would hit it where is with this one it's more solid and the entire form repeats itself not just the edge of the letter um you know you could also go in and you could make the drop shade more prominent I mean you could give it an outline as well friends have important you want that drop shade to be and how much a part of um the the word shape itself you wanted to be um you can drop it of a fair bit further if that's what you want or you can keep it relatively close and snug into the letter um so why don't you go ahead and pick your next word that you're going to do a slab serif with a drop shape, any kind of job shade you like on your slab serve you khun do high contrast low contrast whatever it isthe so I'm going to do the word or racer and I'm going to do that down here and that's going to be my slab saref with a drop shade so if you find that you're having trouble at all figuring out where exactly the drop shade should go if you happen to have some tracing paper of ellen paper around you can always put a piece of paper over um over your first letter form re dried on the tracing paper and then you could always shift it slightly and then you can take a good look at where exactly the drop shades should be falling um that's, always really nice toe have, just as a quick reference when you're first getting started, doing some drop shades on things. Um, but I think you're ready to go, and I will see you in a few when you're done with that prompts.

Class Description

Hand lettering is experiencing a serious resurgence in the design world. Get your complete introduction to the artform in Hand Lettering 101 with Annica Lydenberg.

Annica is a designer, illustrator, and sign painter with a passion for type. In this beginner-friendly class she’ll teach you how to letter by hand and help you build the skills necessary to offer this service to clients – no software required.

Annica will help you:

Understand lettering and the role it plays in design

Develop an arsenal of lettering styles

Add embellishments to letterforms

Using pencil and paper, you’ll learn about the tools and techniques you need to know to add hand lettering to your toolkit and get expert insights on making beautiful type compositions.

Hand lettering is great alternate solution in projects that require custom typography and it adds a personal touch to your work – learn how to get started in Hand Lettering 101 with Annica Lydenberg.

DOlores RUsso

I like the way Annica tells you what you are going to do, then she demonstrates it and then you do it yourself. She knows her subject well and her lesson objectives are clear and to the point. How do I know.?..I'm a teaching mentor also an art teacher and sign painting/lettering artist. I watched this hand lettering class in order to review and to learn how someone else approaches this "not very interesting subject" as some previous reviewers have suggested . I happen to find it most interesting. I love being able to write and communicate using my art and teaching skills.
One reviewer criticized the way Annica instructed with "um" and a clicking noise. But the one criticism that really stood out was the F-word which unfortunately seemed to take precedence over all else for some.
Granted you wouldn't want to illustrate a word that children or parents might interpret as being acceptable. A good teacher would not demonstrate that but observing Annica I can see she is a beginning teacher who might need a little guidance. So consider this "guidance" Annica - you are a teacher and you represent all of us teachers. We aren't in our 20's or even 40's - we've been in the trenches and we know that beginning teaching is very challenging. But you must remember that you are a model for children that we hope you expect to grow up to be good decent human beings. Some adults need that guidance as well. And yes, children will already know these words (pay attention parents) but it is not up to you to teach it to them. You, the teacher, are to teach to the highest professional level.
As for the "um" and the clicking noise at the end of a sentence - that is something you can correct easily - try to record your lessons and listen. Remember - you represent the most respected of professions, your language must be accurate, acceptable and reflect the knowledge of your subject area,
You did a good lesson in hand lettering and covered the most important concepts for a beginner to know. It's a shame that some of the reviewers refused to watch the rest of your lessons and some of them even complained about your silence as you did the letters. Perhaps a little more understanding on their part could have been more beneficial, particularly since one of them was a gifted educator (my Masters also), and did not recognize the cognitive mind working and literally submerged in your lettering skills. This is a fine class and I hope you continue to do more. You are organized, give a lot of information and demonstrate impeccably. Good luck...from your Mentor Teacher.

a Creativelive Student

Rating this is difficult because there are positives and negatives. I watched the course and enjoyed it, but there isn't enough information and education to validate purchasing it. For a graphic designer or someone who knows typography and wants to have a fun challenge around hand drawn lettering, it's fine. However, it's not a course for absolute beginners because the presenter speaks about typographic principles and assumes the audience knows the names of the parts of type when giving directions and doesn't provide enough explanations. There is no history given as to why letterforms are drawn the way they are, whether as traditional hand lettering, calligraphy or even in sign painting, other than the passing recommendation for viewers to research this. All of the comments here are correct. I too was surprised to see the F-word in a featured piece and the lack of contrast when watching her draw was a problem. CreativeLive needs to vet new presenters and perhaps have them do a dry-run of the lessons to critique them. Additionally, her"umms", "super" and "super fun" fillers are tiresome. I think the presenter is talented and has a lot to offer but this felt more like a design challenge rather than an educational course. It would have been useful to primarily show professional applications rather than so many self-directed projects. There is another hand lettering /calligraphy course I watched part of previously that was a better "101" course, to which this course would be an appropriate follow-up.

LAra TAmalunas

I've always been curious how to create some of the cool typography styles I see in artwork and design and this class defined so many different examples. It is a great tool and stepping stone for creating really unique type. I would love to see an alphabet of each style so I can be sure that I am using the correct letterforms for each. The instructor gives a few examples and is easy to follow. Overall awesome!